Ashley Blake has made up for lost time on the river

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Jul. 9--LOWELL -- College usually is the time when a student-athlete tries to take their high school sport of choice to the next level.

This wasn't the case for Ashley Blake, a Hudson, N.H., native. Upon arriving at Clark University in Worcester, Blake, who competed in cross-country, track and softball at Alvirne High School, re-invented herself as an athlete, turning her full attention to a sport in which she never participated in high school -- rowing.

Anyone who knows Blake, 22, probably isn't surprised she has made a name for herself as a rower. While growing up her dad, Charles, ran a power boat on the Merrimack River. All the while she was competing in games and races for Alvirne, which doesn't have a crew team, Blake really was an oarswoman incognito, longing for the day when she would be able to row, row, row her boat to victory.

She found her calling at Clark. And Blake has been rowing with the flow ever since.

"I considered doing cross-country (at Clark), but I actually grew up on the river," said Blake yesterday, during the 26th annual Merrimack River Rowing Association (MRRA) Festival Regatta on the Merrimack River. "My dad had a power boat here. He actually used to say to me when I was young, 'One day you are going to be on the UMass Lowell crew team.' I didn't go to UMass Lowell, but we'd drive on the river and I'd say to myself, 'I'm going to row on this one day.'

"I really felt (rowing) was a sport I'd be good at. I felt I had strong legs and strong arms and it's something I would excel at."

Blake, a member of the MRRA team, turned in a winning effort on the Merrimack yesterday. She finished first in the Women's Open Single in a time of 7:56.98, and teamed up with Jess MacAlear to win the Women's Open Double in a time of 7:32.54. Both races were 2000 meters in length.

The Festival Regatta is a USRA registered competition that featured roughly 30 races and included a full range of age and boat classes.

"Locally, an event like this builds up recognition for the sport," said Blake. "It also helps build interest in youth from the area who don't have access to rowing."

Blake was a four-year rower at Clark as an undergrad. She also received a graduate degree from Clark and will attend Duquesne University's Law School in Pittsburgh this fall. She has applied for crew coaching positions at Robert Morris University and Duquesne.

"Definitely you get a lot of self-fulfillment because competing in this sport not only drives you to be the best and do your best, personally you also want to give your best for the team," said Blake. "You know that for the team on the whole to perform well you have to do your part and a little more."

Rowing taxes Blake to the physical and mental limit, as her will to succeed is constantly challenged.

"You have to be 100 percent, every single stroke," said Blake. "There are roughly 270 to 300 strokes in a race and every single one of them you have to be mentally and physically ready for.

"This is definitely the most intense sport I've ever done. The key to the sport is to make it look effortless. The better you do it, the more effortless it looks."

Blake and MacAlear competed against each other in college with MacAlear attending WPI. Yesterday, they worked in unison while posting an impressive win in the Women's Open Double.

Last year, Blake medaled in the Club Singles event at the Head of the Charles Regatta. Her resume also includes a silver medal performance at the Head of the Schuylkill in Philadelphia.

During the summer months Blake is involved in the MRRA's rowing programs. She took part in the MRRA's Community Learn to Row Program the summer after her senior year in high school. Blake enjoys both sweep rowing (single oar) and sculling (two oars).

"Sculling is more of an independent thing," said Blake. "The more seasons you do it, it becomes like an art form. It's a combination of strength, agility, balance and technique. Every year you do it you kind of understand the boat a little bit better. You understand the sport a little bit better. And understand yourself as kind of like an extension of the boat."

For official results from yesterday's Festival Regatta go to www.merrimackrowing.org

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Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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